Voting-compartment



-(No Model.)

O H PECK VOTING COMPARTMENT.

Patented Dec. 31, 1889.

WLT'IEEEEE UNITED STATES PATENT EF CE.

CHARLES. H. PECK, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

VOTING-COMPARTM ENITI SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 418,624, dated December 31, 1889.

Application filed July 10', 1889.

T aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES H. PECK, of the city and county of Worcester, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Voting-Compartments; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this [0 specification, and in which Figure 1' represents a voting-room showing a set of my improved voting-compartments arranged in one corner thereof. Fig. 2 represents, uponan enlarged scale, a similar view to that shown in Fig. 1 of said compartments, all of the following figures also being upon the same enlarged scale. Fig. 3 is a front view of the compartments. Fig. 4 represents said compartments folded up for storage when 2 0 not in use; and Fig. 5 is a transverse section thereof, taken on line a, Fig, 2, looking in the direction indicated by the arrow.

My invention relates to improvements in the voting compartments or shelves required to be used under the new laws, known as the Australian system, for regulating voting,

and recently made a State law by various States.

It consists of an improved mode of constructing said compartments, whereby they may be folded up into compact form for storage when not in use, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

To enable others to better understand the 3 5 nature and purpose of said invention, I will now proceed to describe it more in detail.

In the drawings, A represents a votingroom; B, that portion thereof allotted to the ward officers C, the public entrance hall or in;

40 closure; D, an inclosed passage forkeeping the voters within the prescribed limits in the process of voting, and E represents a plan view of my improved voting-compartments arranged in one corner of the room, or as otherwise desired, in such a manner as to comply with the law regulating the distance thereof from the public inclosure and the inclosure for ward officers. By this system and the arrangement shown each voter passes from the public inclosure C through the doorway a to one of the voting-compartments E of the set or series of compartments E, and after Serial No. 317,066. (No model.)

having prepared his ballots passes on to the ward oflicers and deposits said ballots in the usual ballot-boxes, after which he passes out into the public inclosure again through the doorway b, as is plainly indicated by arrows in Fig. 1.

My improved voting-compartments E are constructed in the following manner: The compartments are made with a vertical back board 0, a horizontal bottom shelf d,and the divisions or partitions e, and are similar to a series of boxes arranged side by side horizontally, having open fronts and tops. This, of course, I do not claim as new, my invention being confined to the construction which I have adopted, as previously stated, whereby the whole may be folded up into compact form, as illustrated in Fig. 4, so that they may be stored away economically when not in use.

I accomplish this by hinging each partition 8 to the back board 0, so that it may be swung around to one side against said back board, and also hinging the bottom board or shelf d, so that it may be folded up over said folded partitions, the shelf being hinged at a short distance from the back board to a narrow shelf 0, projecting at right angles from said back board, and of sufficient width to permit the partitions to be folded in between the back board and bottom shelf when folded up, as indicated in said Fig. 4:.

Any devices f suitable for hinging the parts as aforesaid may be employed. Ordinary hinges are preferred, however, for the purpose.

When the compartments are open for use, with the bottom shelf (1 swung down into a horizontal position, the partitions are held at right angles to said bottom shelf and the back board by means of suitable fastening devices g. In this instance said devices consist of ordinary spring bolts or catches fastened to one side ofthe partitions and adapted .to enter vertical sockets or holes formed in the bottom shelf.

I am aware that the details of construction. I

IOO

By the application of my invention to practioe it is obvious that at a slight expense the voting-compartments required under the new State laws maybe made so as to be folded up and stored away very economically, the same requiring only about one-sixth the space of the old form of compartments made with rigid parts.

Any suitable table or support h may be used for holding the compartments at the proper elevation from the floor.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim therein as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A series of folding voting-compartments arranged side by side horizontally on a suitable support, consisting of a vertical back CHARLES H. PE CK.

Witnesses:

A. A. BARKER, W. B. NoURsE. 

